Dana White Says He Will Produce Joshua-Fury in Wales
Dana White said he will be in Cardiff for Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury, and he said the UFC will produce the show. Asked at the UFC 332 post-fight press conference whether he would be at the press conference in Wales, he did not leave the contract argument to Eddie Hearn.
“I will be there,” White said. “We’re producing the show. But he says you can’t. Just like Canelo Crawford, same thing. Craig Borsari, Zach, my whole team, we will be producing the show. I will have my, my little phone beside the, you know, on the table, just like tonight and every other night and every other show that I produce.” He closed the exchange the same way. “I’ll be there. I’m producing it. I’m promoting it. I’ll see you in Wales.”
The fight is December 11 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, streaming on Netflix. The official announcement put Fury at 36-2-1 with 25 knockouts and Joshua at 30-4 with 27. HE Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and White were named as collaborators when the date was set. Hearn, who promotes Joshua through Matchroom Boxing, and Frank Warren, who promotes Fury through Queensberry, were the men on stage when the London launch was held on September 30. White was not.
That absence is the argument Hearn has been running. He called White’s handling of the fight a PR disaster and said the contract does not allow the UFC chief to promote it unless Matchroom allows it. On Saturday in Birmingham, Hearn went further. “To be honest with you, at this point I think he’s completely cooked,” he said. He also said White’s production claim is barred. “What he actually said was, ‘We’re doing the TV production,’ which again, in the contract, is prohibited.” Hearn said he checked with Sela and was told in writing that the claim was untrue.
White’s answer at the UFC 332 podium was that he does not hear the contract until a reporter reads it to him. “When you hear him say, oh, our contract,” the question began. “I don’t hear it until you guys say it,” White said. “I hear nothing until you guys say it to me in press conference.” Asked who did the deal with Joshua and whether that had been settled, he shrugged it off twice. “I don’t care. I don’t care.”
The production comparison is Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford, which White has used before as the model. He named Craig Borsari, the UFC’s longtime event and production lead, and “Zach,” without a last name, as the crew that will run the show. The phone on the table is the detail he uses for every UFC broadcast he produces. He said Cardiff will be the same setup.
Thursday’s version of the same claim came with a travel excuse. White said Contender Series taping and the trip to Salt Lake City kept him off the London launch.
“Not only am I promoting the fight, we’re producing the fight too,” he said then. “UFC is gonna produce the show. I don’t know how that’s a PR disaster.” He also asked, in comments to MMA Fighting, whether he was lying about producing the event, and answered himself. The Saturday clip did not revisit that line. It added the date he says he will be in the building.
Hearn’s billing for the show does not include him. Hearn has described the event as Turki Alalshikh’s, promoted by Sela in association with AJ Boxing, Matchroom, Queensberry, Gold Star, and Tyson Fury. Nick Khan, White’s Zuffa Boxing partner, was seated next to Alalshikh at the London launch. The Netflix release had named White. The stage list Hearn read did not.
The two sides are now booked into the same week in different cities. Hearn said Sela and the other parties want him in Los Angeles next week, and that he will probably go. White’s line from Salt Lake City was shorter. He is producing it, he is promoting it, and he will see the press in Wales. December 11 is the night that claim gets tested, at Principality Stadium, on Netflix, with Joshua and Fury in the ring either way.
